Tabulator mechanism for type-writers.



H. ETHERIDGE. TABULATOR MECHANISM FOR TYPE WRITERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1915- 1 Patented. Oct. 3,1916.

U I E s'r s PA ENT orF cE.

HERBERT ETI-IERIDG-E, or EALING, LoNDoN, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO: THE BAR-LOCK TYPEWRITER OMPA Y To aZZwh om 2'22 mag concern: p 7.

Be it known thatI, HERBERTETHERIDGE, a subject ofthe King of England, residing at Ealing, London, lV., England, have invented certain new and .useful Improvements in Tabulator Mechanism for Type-lVriters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to tabulator mechanism for typewriters and has for its object to provide a modified form of the type of tabulator mech anism wherein a single dog is advanced different heights to engage one or other of a series of stops on the platen carriage, which stops; are graded in length, and a stepped member is provided which is adjusted ac cording to the column in which writing is to occur, the said stepped member being advanced by the tabulator-dog to release the platen-carriage when the dog has been brought into position for engaging its stop. A single dog is used to engage any one of the stops for each key, but obviously several keys may be provided each with its own dog to operate, for example, as denominatorkeys.

The present invention relates to the specific form of mechanism whereby the stepped member, is carried, made adjustable, and is operatively connected with the tabulatordog and its key.

In the accompanying drawing which illus trates one method of carrying out this invention, the adjustable stops ordinarily provided at the back of the typewriter carriage for tabulator mechanisms are shown at A, A A and A respectively, the length of the stops increasing in the order in which they are named. As is well-known these stops are commonly carried on a bar A secured to the back of the carriage and along which they are free to slide, and made to en-, gage with a second bar A which is provided with a series of notches A, which notches engage the upper part of each stop. The notches correspond to the writing posi-- tions of the type and any one stop can be slid to any one position along the bar by raising it to free it from its notch A and then sliding it along to engage it with another notch. With the stops arranged so that the shortest one is at the left-hand of the operator and the longest at the righthand, the carriage can be arrested at any desired position by raising the tabulator-dog Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed March 22, 1916. Serial No. 85,805.

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ZIQIMITED, or LoNDoN, ENGLAND.

' TABULATOR MECHANISM roa'rvrn-wiurrnns.

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B to such height 'as to lie in the path of that stop which is so vplaced asto arrest the movement of thecarriage' as so'on'as the desiredposition is reached. All this'inecha nism is well-known and constitutes no part per 86 of the present invention. With such mechanisms, however, the carriage, which has to be released by some part which moves with the tabulator-dog, is commonly released just as the dog arrives about at the lower edge of the stopwith which it is to cooperate, so. that it is likely to catch the stop by the extreme edge, or even miss it altogether. To overcome this objection, the present mechanism is arranged so that the carriage-release only takes place after the tabulatondog B has been brought well up above the lower edgeof the stop with which it is to engage; The tabulator-dog B is care,

ried at the end of a vertical rod B which is slotted at B to engage a guide-rod B The lower end of the rod B is pivotally engaged with a key-lever C which rocks upon a fixed support Cl and is normally held in such position by a spring G that the end engaging the rod B is lowered and the other end which carries the key C is raised. The

rod B has a laterally-projecting tongue B j which lies under one end of a rocking-lever D, pivoted on a support D A lost-motion device D which constitutes a selector, is pivoted at D to that end of the lever D which is remote from the tongue 13*. The selector is in the form of a link having four steps, d, 6Z1, d and 0Z A. bell crank lever E constituting an escapement release member is pivoted at E and on one of its arms carries a pin E which lies vertically beneath one or other of the steps 0?, d1, d (Z3 according tolthe position in which the selector is :placed. For positioning the selector, a bell-crank lever F is provided which is situated in some part of the machine easily accessible by the operator and this is connected by a wire link F to the selector. The bell-crank lever F can be moved over a scale F marked to indicate four difierent and means are provided, such as a spring detent, not shown in the drawing, for holding the lever F in any one position in which the operator may set it. When the lever is set at the. 4 as shown in the'drawing, the step d is vertically over the pin E Near one arm of the bell-crank lever, one end of a member G is shown which is operatively connected with the escapement-dogs for releasingthe platen-carriage.

The operation of this mechanism is as bottom edge of the stop A. During this movement the tongue B on the rod B has been rocking the lever D so that the selector D is lowered, and as the step d lies opposite the pin E the selector will move downward without displacing the lever E until the step (Z comes into contact with the pin E By this time the tabulator-dog B is well up in front of the stop A, and further movement of the tabulator-dog and consequently of the selector D then displaces the lever E which swings the member G backward and releases the escapement-dogs. The carriage then shoots forward in the known manner until the first stop A is brought against the tabulator-dog B when the operator releases the key C and the escapementdogs being reengaged, the carriage remains in the position in which it was arrested. The stepcl allows the greatest lost-motion travel of the selector D because the tabulator-dog B has to be raised to the full limit of its travel to engage the stop A, but if the hand-operated lever F is placed at one of the other points on the index, say that numbered 2, the step al will be brought over the pin E and thus the selector will travel a shorter distance before releasing the escapement-dogs, as the tabulator-dog has only to rise sufficiently high to engage the stop A The lever E, in addition to effecting the release of the escapement-dogs, serves as a stop for the selector and its associated parts. Forthis purpose the rearward movement of the member G can be limited, so that the lever E can only swing clockwise a given distance, and then being checked by the member G butting against its stop, holds up the selector D and the lever D, and thus pre vents furtherupward movement of the rod B with the dog B, and further downward movementof the key C It will be seen therefore that the lever E is always rocked through the same angle, but the lever D is rocked through a greater or smaller angle according to the positioning of the selector D and thus the degree of lost-motion permitted to it; it is this difference of lost-motion which permits the dog B to be raised to varying points according to the stop selected to be engaged by the index over which the hand-operated lever F is moved. The member G would be spring-controlled and thus the lever E would be returned by this member when the key is released. The lever has a for'wardly-extendin-gtongue E which is bent over at right-angles toengage the link F or any other member which may serve as a stop to limit the movement of the lever in a counter-clockwise direction. The key with the tabulator-dog is returned by the spring C the lever D may be returned by a spring not shown in the drawing.

Usually the operator is working only in one column, or mainly in one column, and by being able to set the selector over to this column by means of the lever F and leave it in that position, time is saved over such mechanisms as necessitate the operating of a special key for each column. Another ad vantage of this mechanism is, that once the selector D is set, any one of the decimal keys with their respective dogs, such as are usually employed in conjunction with column keys and column dogs, can be operated without having to first or simultaneously operate a column key, as the selector decides which column the decimal key is for the time beingallotted to; all of thesedecimal keys would of course have dogswith projections corresponding to B operating on the same bail-lever D.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In tabulator-mechanism for typewriters and the like, the combination of a series of dependent stops on the carriage which is to be moved to the different tabulatingpositions, said stops being graduated in length downward, a vertical-member having a tabulator-dog at the top and mounted to move vertically to bring the dog into the path of the stops, a horizontallvdisposed key-lever pivotally connected to the bottom of the tabulator-dog member at that end which is remote from the key, a bail-lever (D) pivoted about a horizontal aXis and having the bail end disposed over a projection (B on the tabulator-dog member, a selector movably mounted on the bail-lever at that end remote from the bail and having a stepped face, a carriage-release member opposed to the stepped face of the selector and operatively connected with the release-mechanism for the carriage whereon the stops are mounted, and means for adjusting the selector by moving it on the bailmember so that any one of its steps can be brought opposite the end of the carriage release member as desired, the steps being so arranged that each when brought to its operativeposition lies a distance from the end of the releasing member which is greater or less than the other steps; substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In tabulator mechanism for typewriters and the like, the combination of a series of dependent stops on the carriage which is to be moved to the different tabulating positions said stops being graduated in length downward, a vertical member having a tabulator-dog at the top and mounted to move vertically to bring the dog into the path of the stops, a horizontally-disposed key-lever pivotally connected to the bottom 5 of the tabulator-dog member at that end which is remote from the key, a bail-lever (D) pivoted about a horizontal axis and having the bail end disposed over a projection (13*) on the tabulator-dog member, a 0 stepped plate (D pivotally carried at that end of the bail-lever remote from the bail, a movable member (E) whose end lies in the path of one of the steps of the said plate, means for swinging the plate on its lever 15 and holding it in such position that any one of its steps can be brought opposite the end of the carriage-release member as desired the steps being so arranged that each when brought to its operative position lies a distance from the end of the releasing-member 20 which is greater or less than the othersteps; substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of 5 two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT ETHERIDGE.

Witnesses;

HAROLD H. SIMMONS, A. M. HAYWARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G, 

